Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has empowered the provincial director general of mines and minerals to renew licences and leases of mines in the merged tribal districts, a news source reported.
DG Mines and Minerals Muntazir Khan said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan approved a summary to this effect that would allow the officials concerned to convert licence into lease and assign mineral titles.
All cases pertaining to mines and minerals have been pending since the merger, which came into force when parliament passed the FATA-KP merger bill in 2018. Prior to the merger, such matters were dealt under the standard operating procedures.
A spokesperson of the provincial law department said that the Mineral Sector Governance Act, 2017 was equally applicable to the merged districts as the mines and minerals related cases could only be processed under the said act.
